So how do we address this situation? 

First of all I would like to say that there isn’t one thing that will allow all of us to become happy and follow our destiny with ease.  I think that the biggest thing we have to realize is that in order for us to find our real purpose in life; we first have to start looking!  I think intention, is the key element in actually achieving our goals.

Next, after we have decided that we want to find our ultimate mission in life, we have to look at what are the things that really make us happy.  I think that it could be most difficult undertaking, because in order for us to find the meaning in our life, we first have to get to know our selves.  Although this process can be difficult, it also can be very rewarding.  For example some people are very good communicators.  So good, as the matter a fact, that people always make fun of them, because they talk too much.  Their personality will work well in the activities that require them to communicate effectively with other people.  So they would probably enjoy profession such as a journalist or a sales person.  Then there are others who are more analytical in everything they do.  They might want to try something like being an engineer.  These seemingly little personality descriptions, can be very important indicators in our search to discover our destiny.

Here is what I did when I was trying to figure out what to do with my life.  First I wrote down all of the things I enjoyed doing (writing, teaching, personal development, trading on the stock market etc.).  Then I looked at that list and prioritized in order of what I would want to try and do first.  You see out of all of the things I enjoyed or wanted to do, I first and foremost wanted to have my own business.  So anything I would do would have to become a business, in order for me to be completely satisfied.  That is exactly how I started BurstCreativity.com.  This site allows me to teach, write, communicate, help people, but also it is an online business that allows me the freedom that I want - perfect compromise between my desires.  

It doesn’t mean that this is going to be the only thing I could be doing.  I could come up with some other activities that would allow me to fulfill the very same needs.  I also want to build businesses for example, so I am also involved in several other ventures. 

The most important part however is the fact that I try to choose what I do based on what I want.  My inner desires dictate what I do – and this is probably the key formula here.  Find out what you want and do it.

Technorati Tags: Career, Destiny, Path in life, Happiness

Just imagine the following situation. You have a competitor that constantly undercuts your prices. He often forces you into bidding wars, and generally your relationship with him is adversary. Now imagine that instead of waging the usual war, you decide to approach your competition from a different point of view. You come up with an idea of a cross promotion that will funnel your clients to him and his to you. You sell that idea to him, and you join forces in promoting this venture. It is so successful, that both of you make a lot of money from it. From then on your relationship changes; and instead of competing you join forces. You do many promotions like the first one and take your business to new heights of success. Thanks to your new partner - your former competitor.

So what can we do to incorporate more of win-win philosophy in our business? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Every time you make a decision in your business, consider how it will affect people around you. Will your decision have a positive effect on your clients, employees, competitors? If not, can there be anything done to change, improve the situation?

2. Be flexible. This is key, because if you are not flexible, the creation of win-win conditions will be impossible. Usually in order for both parties to win, they both will have to sacrifice first.

3. Communication is crucial. In order for you to be able to sell your proposal of win-win conditions you will first have to educate the other party. If you can’t do it effectively, there is no way will you be able to get them to agree to it in the first place.

4. You must sell your proposal to everybody involved. This, like any other sales process will require you to show clear benefits to the opposing party. Show them how they will win before you show them how you will.

5. Treating your employees as partners and creating win-win conditions when dealing with them, will probably be the best decision you have ever made. Your employees affect your business a lot more then your clients do, because they deal with your clients and represent you business on all levels of sales process.

6. Creating incentives can be a great tool to create win-win conditions. In selling your proposal to the opposing side, your proposal will hold a lot more weight if it comes with an incentive of one form or another.

7. Extend trust to the other party. One of the biggest problems that prevents win-win deals from happening is the lack of trust among parties involved. The surest way to start building trust is to be the first to extend it to your opponent.

8. Put your self in the other person’s shoes. Understanding where the other person is coming from, is imperative to be able to craft a strategy where both parties win.

9. Have a clear understanding of what is it that you are trying to accomplish. As with any other endeavor having clear goals will help you keep things in perspective and know when the goal has been accomplished.

Following this advice surely will allow you to develop long lasting fruitful relationships with your clients, employees and competition alike.
Business, Personal development, Success

Technorati Tags: Business, Personal development, Success

Feng Shui is quite a complicated art, and in order to understand it we first need to clarify a few principals that come into play.

First of all we need to know about Chi. Basic definition of Chi (or Ki) is that it is a universal energy (an energy that is present in all objects at all time). Some scientific explanation for such energy lies in the unified field theory of quantum physics. I am not going to try to explain that, but if you need a further info you can refer to that term in your research.

So in Feng Shui, placement of objects either impedes or promotes the flow of this energy. So in other words, if Chi flows freely in our environment, this also will mean that our life will be happier, healthier and more successful. If the Chi is blocked, we will experience all sorts of difficulties in our life.

How would any lay person benefit from this ancient art? One of the basic tenets of Feng Shui is that we need to balance our life in anyway that we can. A simple way to do that from the Feng Shui point of view would be to un-clutter your life from both objects and emotional clutter.

According to Feng Shui clutter stagnates our life. In stead of flowing smoothly and easily, the Chi that surrounds us and the objects we use in our daily life is obstructed. So when we have a lot of clutter in our life, it will feel as if we are stuck in some or all areas of the daily living. We also might have bad “luck” in our career. Our relationships might feel like they are not going anywhere. This concept can also be applied to the emotional baggage in our life. Too much of it can significantly impede the way our life flows.

What can we do about the clutter in our life? It is very simple. Do a Feng Shui cleanse! Follow these simple guide lines to free your self of clutter:

1. If you haven’t used it in a year you don’t need it.

2. When you are getting rid of clutter, you are in fact making more space to receive new objects - so learn how to let go of things (and emotions)

3. Do it. Don’t put it off. Act and don’t give it a second thought.

Once you uncluttered your self, you will gain a brand new outlook on life. Things will seem fresher. It will almost feel like a weight has been lifted from your chest. And you just might also feel the difference in other areas of your life as well.

Try it, it’s going to be well worth the effort.

So why is it that it is so hard for us to both set goals and stick to them until we accomplish them? A couple of the biggest reasons are the way we set goals and the way we think about them. This can fall into two categories: we might be setting goals that are unrealistic, or we start thinking of goals as set in stone. Either way, when we do not accomplish them right away we get disappointed and end up abandoning them all together.

To help us make goals that are both realistic and easy to achieve here are a few tips:

- We need to be specific about the goal that we are setting. So “I want to loose 30 pounds” is better then “I want to loose weight”.
- Second, we need to know the time frame of our goal. So if it is something like “I want to develop a successful consulting business”, and we know that this will not happen right away, we should put it in the long term goal category.
- If our goal is big like the developing a successful business example, we also need to break it down into smaller, shorter term goals that you will accomplish first before getting to the final destination. Like “I want to make a business plan for my new venture” or “I want to find partners that will help me accomplish what I set out to do”.
- We also need to know when we will achieve this goal. So if we look at the business example, it can be something like “I will have a successful business when I will be able to cover all my living expenses from the profits of the business, while working only 30 hours per week” It is something very precise that will signal to us that we have achieved a desired goal.
- Here are also other questions we should ask our selves when setting a goal. Is your goal achievable and realistic? Is the time frame for achieving your goal acceptable to you? Are the costs and consequences of achieving your goal acceptable? Do you have all the resources you need to achieve your goal and do you know where to get them if you do not?

Another very important point about goal setting is that goals are meant to be constantly adjusted! If you think of goals as a guideline that highly depends on the circumstances surrounding it, you are on the right track. Situations in our lives change all the time. This is the primary reason why we need to constantly adjust our goal to make them fit into the new situations life presents to us. All we really have to do is monitor how we are doing with our goals from time to time. Make sure that these goals still correspond to our desires, and if they no longer do, adjust them or set new ones.